When it comes to flexibility, Bernhard Moser is hard to beat – even when it comes to such a bulky eleven-day series of events as his “eat!Berlin”. It was supposed to take place in June this year, corona-free.
But then came the Ukraine war, and the festival manager and his people spontaneously switched to feeding refugees. And now it’s the autumn holidays, from October 27th to November 6th. “Let’s see if the guests are in town at all,” says Moser, but he immediately has a way out: “Then more people from outside will have to come.”
That should work, because the festival, now ten years old, has established itself among better-eaters across the country, and the chefs are also well-known, even across borders.
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This year especially about the Austrian one, because there is a rare treat thanks to a cooperation with the Austrian advertising agency: a chef from each federal state is expected to pre-cook, for example Vitus Winkler, the herb acrobat from St. Veit im Pongau, Ober- Regionalo Hannes Müller from “Forelle” in Weißensee or Fabian Günzel, actually from Erfurt, who got off to a flying start with “Aend” in Vienna.
But space is also given to Berlin’s zeitgeist, culminating in “Queen of Thrones” in the election of the “Berlin Wine Queen”. Don’t worry: the festival is making fun of the traditional German winegrower’s daughter election, because the title is reserved for drag queens led by Sheila Wolf.
The blogger Xenia Glassen has taken on the task of introducing the uninitiated to the scene of up-and-coming young restaurateurs, and there is a poetry slam with Marvin Weinstein on the cuisine of Arne Anker in the “Brikz”.
Another focus could be described with the sentence “If meat, then right”, because Dario Cecchini, butcher and unlimited expert for Bistecca Fiorentina, the meat of the white Italian Chianina cattle, is coming. Adar Lotan from the wine bar “Jus” is coming from Tel Aviv, and Ducasse student Vivien Durand is coming from the French Basque country.
Traditionally, the principle of the festival is not to head for the usual restaurants or hotels, but to test other locations for their gastronomic resilience, this time for example the Astor Film Lounge, Friedrichsfelde Palace or the Pan-AmLounge in the Europa Center, which are part of a strolling event served in the style of the 60s and 70s, presumably including the Lufthansa cocktail.
The opening in the Meistersaal in Kreuzberg varies the old journalist motto “Start with an earthquake, then slowly increase”. Three chefs, who achieved seven Michelin stars during their active time, make the food, namely Thomas Bühner from Osnabrück, ex-Adlon man Hendrik Otto and Swiss Reto Lampart.
At the end on November 6, things are not quite as glamorous, but just as interesting, when Tom Wickboldt, top dog in Usedom, meets Steven Zeidler, freshly starred in Berlin’s “Bricole”, Andreas Staack from Bad Saarow and Dennis Melzer from Cologne, who wanted to turn the Charlottenburg Berlin “Cumberland” into a super restaurant, but was suddenly no longer allowed to do so. And the daily mirror? Is back on board as a media partner and co-organiser, for example at the Checkpoint evening in the “Bar Jeder Vernunft” on November 3rd, cooked by Alexander Koppe and Christopher Kümper; a performance by the legendary Checkpoint Band cannot be completely ruled out.
And on November 5th, the well-established Tagesspiegel blind date is on the agenda again, about which it can only be said that there is nothing to be said in advance – but the guests usually do not regret their coming.
Other events have ambiguous titles such as “Brenner, Brauer, Brandenburg”, “Oh Captain my Captain” or “Hick-Off Sekt Festival”, others very clearly such as “10 Years The Grand”. Prices start at 98 euros for “Markus Herbicht’s full lunch menu” and end at 330 euros for “Alexander’s and Billy’s Schnapidee”, ten courses from the “Nobelhart
So far, around 50 events are on the program, and a good ten more are to be added. So it’s worth checking the website not only immediately, but also from time to time.
